A lingering theme in the novel is the universality of communication through the means of spoken and unspoken language. However, the language of fear surpasses all word translations as it speaks to the perceived visuals and emotions. The inner responds to the outer which can speak louder than diction alone. Kanai embodies the literal translation of words while Piya embodies the metaphoric significance of communication. This idea can relate to the signifier and signified in certain senses by Ferdinand de Saussure’s “Course in General Linguistics”. He highlights the arbitrariness of the signifiers and signified, pointing out that there is no inherent connection between them. There is a grander form of connection that can be received that most patent communication does not project.

Kanai goes through a perusal where he discovers that Horen invites Nirmal to Morichjhãpi for a feast that will host journalists and intellectuals. It is revealed that Nirmal tells Nilima about what he’s been up to and she’s unenthusiastic hearing about. Nilima’s fears cause her to urge him not to return to avoid peril from the settlers. Nirmal as a result feels that he must sacrifice transparency in order to continue his involvement. Nirmal pinpoints this moment of secrecy as the one that begins to destroy his marriage, conveying that he recognizes that the absence of language and the genuine desire to communicate can have dire consequences on connection. Nirmal knew Nilima sensed the lie because she responded in an aloof manner and he recognized that, “…this was enough to make me fear for the safety of my secret. Thus was sown the seed of our mistrust” (Gosh 158). Kanai is able to understand Nirmal’s final months of life through reading his notebook and directly is exposed to the limits of spoken and written language. His ability to speak six languages doesn’t teach him what the locals insist is the vital language of the Sundarbans, which is the emotional language of fear. Fear drives much of human behavior and can inhibit or protect people. Nirmal develops a life crisis where he fears that in comparison to his wife, he queries, “What had I done? What was the work of my life?” (Gosh 160).  Kanai gets a glimpse of this transcendent latent form of expression by reading this intimate insight of Nirmal’s’ thoughts that are not shared with his wife. An introspective experience most do not have unless they steal a friend or family member’s’ journal.

Piya who speaks very little Hindi or Bengali works in a remote part of India where few people speak English and must work with the challenge of communicating. Piya initially begins her work using visual cues to communicate, however, abandons this adventure because little interest is shown to her by those on the boat. Similar to Nilima and Nirmal, language does not mean communication is promised if there is no openness to receiving the signified by the signifier. Forest Service officials and Nirmal both for varying reasons choose to disregard respect for others and neglect a genuine desire to connect. A latent example of respect is the manifest being of Fokir giving Piya privacy to change her clothes, recognizing her humanity. This act of respect was received by Piya as, “…touching. It was not just that he had thought to create a space for her; it was as if he had chosen to include her in some simple, practiced family ritual…” (Gosh 60). Fokir is a taciturn local fisherman who doesn’t speak English who rescues Piya from the Forest Service which emphasizes the ambiguous forms of communication that aren’t just through sounds that leave our mouths. There is vulnerability in expression and a sense of fear of not being understood. Another latent example of Piya having a profound understanding of the environment is the manifest being her GPS as it locates her in space and makes the environment something that she can later read when she retrieves the monitor’s information. To communicate, one must be able to receive and perceive a message just as Piya, “…loved best about her work: being out on the water, alert and on watch…” (Gosh 61).

Gosh uses the different characters to highlight the complexities of language. Communication can be spoken or unspoken and is meant to be received with delicacy and care. Words, drawings or gestures can speak to the latent. The form of communication is the manifest, how one attempts to get across to another. Being able to understand something other than what you project makes one more in tuned with reality and their surroundings.

There is a narrative focus on nature versus man on the journey that is embarked by Kanai in the chapter titled “Lusibari” from Amitav Ghosh’s “The Hungry Tide”. Kanai is a businessman that embarks on a journey to recover something he finds value in, searching for a deeper understanding or revelation. Donna Haraway emphasizes the importance of connecting with kinship and rejecting the materialist in “Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene,”. Kanai will have this conflict indirectly presented to him through his adventure. Contrary to Piya who is a cetologist who comes to the Sundarbans to study river dolphins and is in tuned to the life in nature that is non-human. Both through physical and mental glasses, there is an exploration of an intricate and tumultuous relationship between anthropogenic powers and nature.

The chapter encompasses the beauty and peril of the Tide Country, illuminating the unique vicissitudes posed by the landscape, such as shifting tides and the unpredictability of the waterways. As Nilima and Kanai navigate the rivers, the characters are forced to reflect on their own lives, motivations, and the interconnectedness of their fates with the environment around them. Kanai enters a compound and has a recollection of his visit as a child, creating a sense of nostalgia. There are these stilts under the building that are meant to protect it from being blown away during a cyclone, while the bãdh protects the island of Lusibari from the high tide. Both of these manmade structures show how people in the Sundarbans attempt to protect themselves and their livelihoods from the unpredictability and mightiness of the natural realm across the world. I found the exposure to communities of people who need to navigate according to mother nature a moment of sociocultural awareness. This moment must have struck Kanai by deconstructing his world view and peaking his inner curiosity. This nuance expressed through Kanai’s  “surprise, none of the house and bustle of the village seemed to filter into the compound and for a moment he felt as though he were stepping through a warp of time” (Gosh 33). Traveling is recommended to help one gain awareness of the reality of life for others in the world and explore emotional introspectiveness.

The local inhabitants’ intimate knowledge of the region showcased the vitality of their experiences and stories in understanding the ecological dynamics at play. Ghosh intersects themes of displacement, community, and environmental oversight into the journey, underscoring the labyrinthine interplay between personal and ecological narratives. A self-discovery journey that showcases internal and external conflict simultaneously. Kinship and appreciation for the non-human entities around them allow for new and unexplored ideas and perspectives to appear. At one point, Kanai questions who Lucy Hamilton is and is told she had the house built for her before she tragically deceased on sea. There is a grounding, almost humbling, moment for Kanai that takes him back to reality while having his interest peaked at when asking Nilima to know who Sir Daniel MacKinnon Hamilton was. An opportunity to learn is presented to Kanai as Nilima raises a finger to, “point to the heavens” (Gosh 35). Seemingly a mundane encounter, there is a breakdown of any hierarchical stance by listening to the knowledge spoken by a wise woman. At the same time, the fact that one is at the mercy of the environment directly contrasts Western beliefs that vehemently view that humans have dominion over nature.

Overall, this universal theme of human and non-human is delved into through the narrative of this specific chapter. Many moments where, as a reader, one is exposed to human dependence on nature and finds momentaneous nuances where Western beliefs are broken down. The story at this point in time follows Kanai, placing all of these self-reflective and observant moments onto his experience simultaneously as the plot develops.

Interestingly enough, Donna Haraway’s work, particularly in “Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene,” explores how one can navigate and reimagine one’s relationship with the world amidst the vicissitudes of the Anthropocene and related concepts. She unwinds the labyrinth of the historical and contemporary destruction of humanity. Haraway highlights terms such as Anthropocene, Capitalocene, Plantationocene, and Chthulucene to make readers rethink our place in the world to build new, more sustainable and equitable relationships with other beings and the environment, moving beyond destructive patterns of the past. Her distinctive tone showcases the critical analysis she develops through a visionary optimism which I admire tremendously. Her bluntness is refreshing as she describes the human race as the, “…arrogant one pretending to be good individuals (Haraway 1).”

Human-centric forces have caused environmental crises, and this is a term called the Anthropocene; the current geological effects caused by significant negative human impact on Earth’s geology and ecosystems.  Focal pointing this phenomenon too narrowly overlooks the other dynamics of ecological change. Haraway challenges the possibility that, “…assemblages of organic species and of abiotic actors make history (Haraway 1).” Are the global changes and environmental degradations solely human inflicted? It takes an open mind to see the complexity of change over the years having to do with small but vital nuances that with time, do show up as complete societal unanimity towards these impacts.

Haraway looks at neoliberalism as the lenses of Capitalocene. Capitalocene more accurately addresses the systemic nature of environmental issues tied to economic practices. In the current epoch, capitalism has a prevalent role in driving ecological destruction and inequality. This change of perspective shifts the focus from humanity  to the economic systems and power structures that perpetuate environmental harm. I find this to be very eye opening and effective reflection because it will tackle the perception perpetuating the idea shifting view that, “The edge of extinction is not just a metaphor; system collapse is not a thriller. Ask any refugee of any species (Haraway 3).” Amitav Gosh criticizes genres of literature that promotes the fantastical as it is a peril because it disarticulates with the question of agency. The novel has to adjust to the era it exists in but climate fiction, horror, science fiction and most imaginary explorative novels cross the boundary for sensitivity to reality. Making natural disasters and extinction solely exist as figurative language or a genre is dangerous because it desensitizes readers to the point that it, “…has primacy in the real world-predictable processes or unlikely events (Gosh 19).”

Humans since the beginning of time have felt the need to use up earth’s recourses to grow as societies. Plantationocene is a concept that emphasizes the influence of plantation economies and colonial histories on contemporary ecological and social crises. There are historical systems of exploitation and land use that continue to shape global environmental issues that are now as Edward Said pointed out in Orientalism from Rob Nixon, in the Slow Death in the Anthropocene , “the normalized quiet powers of unseen powers”(Nixon 7). Even to this day, there are normalized practices that are destroying the earth, “of the contemporary world because most of the reserves of the earth have been drained, burned, depleted, poisoned, exterminated, and otherwise exhausted (Haraway 2).” How will this cycle ever come to an end? Can this cycle ever come to an end? There have been some exhausted efforts seen in daily life such as a shift from plastic shopping bags to reuseable bags. Paper straws are strenuously being used, with much disapproval due to the hasteful sogginess ruining the experience of drinking. However, these small efforts do not directly cut the bloodline of what is massively harming the environment and world.

      Haraway proposes the term “Chthulucene” as an alternative to the Anthropocene. It combines “chthonic” (reference to the underworld or the deep earth) and “ceno” (epoch) to suggest a new way of thinking about and relating to our world. This is a driven solution to connect to “kin,” referring to non-human beings and the more-than-human world. It emphasizes symbiotic and collaborative relationships rather than dominance or exploitation. Haraway pleads for, “stories (and theories) that are just big enough to gather up the complexities and keep the edges open and greedy for surprising new and old connections (Haraway 2).” The division of humankind has been seen for centuries. Ironically, living in the United States of America, we have seen the most division by people due to such diversity of thought and background. However, there has always been the stressing of efforts to, “join forces to reconstitute refuges, to make possible partial and robust biological-cultural-political-technological recuperation and recomposition, which must include mourning irreversible losses (Haraway 2).” This challenges hierarchies of all kinds but advocates for more interconnectivity and reciprocal approaches to inhabiting earth. Respecting the valuing other species instead of our own can, “…exercise leadership in imagination, theory, and action to unravel the ties of both genealogy and kin, and kin and species (Haraway 4).”

Plenty to unpack but Haraway’s terms and ideas push towards a new vogue of conversation and mindsets. Going through the motions can detach a person from reality and allow for the destructiveness of human customs to perpetually wipe out earth and eventually, our own species with it.

Rob Nixon, from “Slow Death in the Anthropocene“, wrote themes of academic cultural criticism and creative nonfiction. He uncovers environmental degradation and climate change as the mainspring of atrocities such as: birth defects, desensitization of the media, the environmentalism of the poor, and an overall exploitation of the earth. A massive emphasis on the loss of humanity described by Edward Said as, “the normalized quiet powers of unseen powers”(Nixon 7). Nixon queries over the appropriate term used to describe warfare action in a country through a juxtaposition of, “military or even an imperial invasion” (Nixon 4). He comes to a striking but simple solution, being one’s further involvement in literature. Exacerbating the vitality of writing in a way that it can, “challenge perceptual habits that downplay the damage slow violence inflicts and bring into imaginative focus apprehensions that elude sensory corroboration” (Nixon 16). Bringing to light one’s thoughts can allow for suppressed perceptions that were malevolent, otherwise known as normalized ways of life, to be addressed.

LeMenager in, “Climate Change and the Struggle for Genre” dives into the everyday desensitization of global news with tragedies surfacing onto apps such as TikTok adjacent to feed that ultimately challenges long attention spans. Severe weather occurring often and the obituary of people whose lives are changed by natural disasters being broadcasted to weather news (LeMenager 11). Trans-corporeality is challenged by climate fiction (cli-fic) as it redefines humanism and humanities, with a hope to spark a social need for transformed day to day expectations (LeMenager 9). Dystopian readers are compared to those who are losing touch with reality. There is a thrill to apocalyptic genres which are undermining above issues, eerily known as a charismatic view of crisis (LeMenager 3). Donna Haraway talks about self-awareness and the aloof state of the elite (LeMenager 7). In “A Cyborg Manifesto” she reflects on the human-machine relationship that encourages the loss of humanistic joys and morals. Ta-Nehisi Coates says the fantastical has become illusive and is a peril to humanity (LeMenager 10). Roy Scranton figures one should die as an individual to let go of “predispositions and fear” (LeMenager 13).

There is a glorification of the “post human museum” which is uncanny in most cli-fi books. A comfort in accepting the normalized slow violence, which is this destructive coping mechanism used to perpetually pay a blind eye to the underlying violent practices of human existence. I wonder why humans have this inherent urge towards destruction. In the early 19^th century, F. T. Marinetti expressed in, The Futurist Manifesto, a tunnel vision of ecstasy fueled by violence and hatred for woman, ironically the very personification of life. Finding that the eerie cure for the world is, “militarism, patriotism, the destructive gesture of the anarchists, the beautiful ideas which kill, and contempt for woman” (Marinetti 3). He describes the art of life, seen in our contemporary times, to be “ violence, cruelty, injustice” (Marinetti 4). Taking the initiative to overcome the world almost sounds like it comes from an all-powerful God that can dictate what is perfection. Nixon and LeMenager in their writings are the coalesced manifestation, a century later, of the slow buildup of violent measures to kill, steal and destroy. I cannot help but think this concept came from biblical inspiration due to John 10:10 claiming evil and good distinctly as, “The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.” Whether one is religious or not, evil comes to surface and shows up as 2 Corinthians 11:14 says, “an angel of light.” Humans excuse slow violence and defend it using lies dressed as truth, fallacies.

As Nixon pointed out, people have used sound terms to label a source of evil to normalize its potence in our society.  Is it the fear of change or of the unknown that fuels the resistance to uncover the slow violence? Or does it come from a place of genuine evil and malevolent intent towards humanity? Looking within myself, an urge for violence appears when I experience cuteness aggression, a phenomenon where one overwhelmingly wants to squeeze or bite a force appeared to be cute without causing actual harm. Why does one want to hurt or destroy what is beautiful? The emergence of sociology, psychology, and genetic studies may aid in figuring out whether this urge within humans is an argument of nature versus nurture, genetics or upbringing. Who can truly define what humanity is supposed to look like as societal norms are ever-changing? The mundane occurrence of a child smoking was once ordinary and is now frowned upon (LeMenager 16). It is almost humorous to see humans use their own efforts to dictate what is in social vogue. Both writers envision a eutopia where people are willing to avoid disaster through plausible discourse and solution, rather than scurrying to fix undoable tragedies. Looking at world history, we tend to put rotting band aids on the vicissitudes of human life.